However, QiPao is no longer the daily dress. Influenced by the Marxism and the Russian Revolution, Chinese Communist Party led a revolution and set up a new regime in 1949. Regarded as the part of a bourgeois life style due to the fact that only upper class could afford silk QiPao( poor women in cloth or rags), it was politically wrong to wear QiPao according to the egalitarian ideology, thus it was abandoned. Today, QiPao still can be seen on some special occasions like the wedding, where the bride usually wears a white wedding-robe(the western style), then wears a red QiPao because it is beautiful.

I bought my first QiPao several years ago( before going to Paris for study in 2005, sounds like a necessity for abroad life, HaHa) , but I didn't wear it! As Paris is the fashion centre, I bought clothes there and enjoyed. So, up until now my QiPao is still new because I wore it several times since I came to Cambridge in 2011. I am fond of QiPao but wear it only when I am abroad for social activities (you are a foreigner and no one cares about your style. In fact it is somewhat like other Asian costumes). In China, I rarely wear it because it doesn't fit the surroundings, even though mine is a more modern version, short in length(the genuine QiPao to the ankle). Imagine you are in the street, people in T-shirts, jeans or shorts passing.....For me, the best means to savour the charm of QiPao is to watch the films or pictures of 1920-30's.

By the way, I once spotted several people dressed in ancient Han gown(over two thousands years ago), like the costumes in Chinese opera, huge sleeves etc. It is stunning but inconvenient for modern daily life, good for horse-riding or 轿子(sedan) not for bicycling or car driving. HaHa

However, QiPao is no longer the daily dress. Influenced by the Marxism and the Russian Revolution, Chinese Communist Party led a revolution and set up a new regime in 1949. Regarded as the part of a bourgeois life style due to the fact that only upper class could afford silk QiPao( poor women in cloth or rags), it was politically wrong to wear QiPao according to the egalitarian ideology, thus it was abandoned. Today, QiPao still can be seen on some special occasions like the wedding, where the bride usually wears a white wedding-robe(the western style), then wears a red QiPao because it is beautiful.

I bought my first QiPao several years ago( before going to Paris for study in 2005, sounds like a necessity for abroad life, HaHa) , but I didn't wear it! As Paris is the fashion centre, I bought clothes there and enjoyed. So, up until now my QiPao is still new because I wore it several times since I came to Cambridge in 2011. I am fond of QiPao but wear it only when I am abroad for social activities (you are a foreigner and no one cares about your style. In fact it is somewhat like other Asian costumes). In China, I rarely wear it because it doesn't fit the surroundings, even though mine is a more modern version, short in length(the genuine QiPao to the ankle). Imagine you are in the street, people in T-shirts, jeans or shorts passing.....For me, the best means to savour the charm of QiPao is to watch the films or pictures of 1920-30's.

By the way, I once spotted several people dressed in ancient Han gown(over two thousands years ago), like the costumes in Chinese opera, huge sleeves etc. It is stunning but inconvenient for modern daily life, good for horse-riding or 轿子(sedan) not for bicycling or car driving. HaHa